An SMD quartz timepiece resonator is generally mounted straight onto a printed circuit board, in order to be rigidly secured to the timepiece movement in the watch. When the watch is subject to mechanical shocks, the quartz resonator in its case may be damaged following the mechanical shocks which are transmitted straight to the resonator. Thus the efficiency of said quartz resonator may deteriorate and thus lead to poor operating accuracy. This risk is even greater for high precision watches which enjoy temperature compensation. A watch provided with a quartz resonator of this type, rigidly secured to the watch movement, is liable to lose accuracy after simply being dropped onto a hard floor, which is a drawback.
CN Patent Application No. 201699667 U discloses a module provided with a plug-in quartz resonator. To contain the quartz resonator, the module includes a metal cover and a base on which the quartz resonator is mounted. The quartz resonator is electrically connected by two conductive flanges to pins coming out of the case for the electrical connection of the module. These conductive flanges provide some elasticity to protect the quartz resonator from any mechanical shock to the module. However, this module cannot easily be integrated in a watch case of small dimensions and does not guarantee proper protection of the quartz resonator when the watch containing the electronic module is subject to mechanical shocks, which is a drawback.
CH Patent No 609 528 B discloses a quartz resonator encapsulated in a metal case. A frame in the form of a spring bar holds and electrically connects the resonator inside the case for electrical connection to the exterior of said case. This metal fastening frame provides the resonator with resistance to mechanical shocks, but the fastening frame is in direct mechanical and electrical contact with the quartz resonator inside the case, which does not provide proper resistance to repeated shocks. This thus constitutes a drawback.
US Patent Application No 2007/0035214 discloses a piezoelectric oscillator. This oscillator includes a piezoelectric resonator which is confined within a resonator case. The resonator case is secured to the base of a case structure via an elastomer buffer element as shock-resistant securing means. The resonator case can also be secured inside the oscillator case structure by being sandwiched by a buffer element. However, no provision is made to sufficiently retain the resonator case in the oscillator case structure to ensure a proper means of shock-resistant securing, which is a drawback.